Uromastyx

[Kayla-Bug]

I was wondering if anyone on here keeps Uromastyx or has had one? I think they are really neat looking and from what I have read they have good personalities.

http://www.forgottenfriend.org/images/mali.jpg

I really like that ones color. Although I like the regular ones as well. Something about their body and head is intruiging to me... :18:

[Wiggs]

unfortunately, your link doesn't work. I'm going to go look up a picture and get back to you :)


Edit: Woah they are cool looking! I want one too

[cocoa_pleco]

bad link, i got

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /images/mali.jpg on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

[Red]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uromastyx

There is a link that works :) pretty wicked looking

[Fishguy2727]

They are great. Vegetarians (so they are easy to feed), easily tamed, hardy (at least the most popular species), just great. The biggest issue with them is temp though. They need it HOT. Hotter than bearded dragons and other desert dwellers. I remember one time we got some in at work one time and when they came in they were very cool and I thought they were dead or on their way. We put them under a couple strong heat lamps in a small tank and they both perked up to normal in less than half an hour.

[Kayla-Bug]

They are great. Vegetarians (so they are easy to feed), easily tamed, hardy (at least the most popular species), just great. The biggest issue with them is temp though. They need it HOT. Hotter than bearded dragons and other desert dwellers. I remember one time we got some in at work one time and when they came in they were very cool and I thought they were dead or on their way. We put them under a couple strong heat lamps in a small tank and they both perked up to normal in less than half an hour. Do you know about how many watts of heat light they would need? I was going to get into them a while back and I looked up anything possible on them online and I got about 10 different things. So lighting would be the expensive part on these ones? LOL.


And sorry for the bad link; it worked for me!

http://ngaherps.com.previewyoursite.com/Uromastyx.JPG

here is a group of some Uros.

[Fishguy2727]

The best source of heat is a ceramic heat emitter. It doesn't burnout the way the usual heat bulbs do. They are supposed to last five years, but my cousin has one he has had for about ten. They give off no light, so all the electricity is used for heat, none is wasted on light. They are screw in 'bulbs' that are usually flat on the bottom (where the heat is directed from). They do need a heat fixture with a ceramic base though, not the ones with a plastic base.

In addition to this they need UVB. Since these guys are from the desert you want a bulb that will produce 10.0 UVB (10% UVB). You can provide with with a fluorescent bulb, a screw-in compact fluorescent bulb, or a mercury vapor bulb. The mercury vapor bulbs also provide heat and are really the best type of light possible, but they are expensive.

The exact wattage needed depends on the tank size. A smaller tank (for when the uro is still small) won't need as much as a larger tank.

I don't go by exact temperatures. I let the animal tell me if it is too hot or too cold. If it is always as far from the heat as it can get, it is too hot. If it is always as close to the heat as it can get, it is too cold. Remember that any reptile tank should have a heat gradient, warm on one end and cool at the other. This allows them to thermoregulate themselves.